Hybrid vehicles are well known in the art. They are usually provided with an electric motor and an internal combustion engine (ICE) that may transmit power to at least one wheel of the vehicle and a generator used to supply electricity to the electric motor and/or to recharge batteries of the vehicle.
On the one hand, a hybrid vehicle is said to be a series hybrid vehicle when the electric motor is used to drive the wheels and the ICE is exclusively used to drive the generator to recharge the vehicle's batteries and/or supply electric power to the electric motor.
On the other hand, a hybrid vehicle is said to be a parallel hybrid vehicle when both the electric motor and the ICE are used simultaneously or individually to drive the wheels of the vehicle. In parallel hybrid vehicles, the ICE may also be used to recharge the batteries through a generator.
Series/parallel hybrid vehicles (SPHV) are also known in the art. Conventionally, these vehicles may be switched between a series mode and a parallel mode, as described hereinabove.